In order to obtain more accurate information, Zhang San had to give Shi Qian an order, but even if Shi Qian wanted to move around freely in a military camp of tens of thousands of people, it was more difficult, so Zhang San did not report much hope, and still relied on the existing intelligence and the group strength of the staff to solve the problem.

After research, the staff officers also believed that the Song army might have a decisive battle with sailors in the near future, and the Song army concentrated more than 500 large and small ships in Jiankang, with more than 80,000 people, so the Song Dynasty thought that it had the strength to fight.

But when Zhang San did not report his hope to Shi Qian, Shi Qian did send the general news that the Song army was indeed preparing to conduct a decisive battle the day before the release of the water, and Tong Guan specially explained to the generals of the navy the importance of this battle.

Moreover, Tong Guan asked the Jiankang Sailors, first of all, to defeat the Ryukyu Sailors outside Yangzhou, if they can't do it, they will drive the opponent's Sailors out of Yangzhou, and if they can't do it, then retreat into the canal, at least to ensure that the canal is in the hands of our army.

It is relatively rare for Tong Guan to be so open-minded, and this is also the sober understanding that the sailors and Ryukyu sailors who came in all over the country did not win a war, and there are many Ryukyu warships, so it is not easy to do it.

Moreover, in order to cooperate with the actions of the Jiankang Naval Division, Taizhou City will also send 20,000 soldiers to the east bank of the canal, and a naval division of 8,000 people will also be organized to go down the canal on the side of Gaoyou Lake, but because the Ryukyu Naval Division sank ships into the water, the canal can only use small fishing boats and small ferries to participate in the battle.

Zhang San's Ryukyu naval army has maintained a force of 100 ships outside Yangzhou City, which is used to maintain the occupation of the shipping route from Yangzhou to the East China Sea, and 100 ships have more than 50,000 naval troops, in order to gain an advantage in this battle, Zhang San immediately ordered the East China Sea Fleet to enter the Yangtze River.

This battle is very important, if it is won, then the Yangtze River will also become the inland river of the Ryukyu naval army, if it is defeated, then the retreat of the Yangzhou defenders will become a problem, and the East China Sea Fleet will enter Yangzhou with fifty warships, so that the number of the Ryukyu naval army will also reach 80,000.

Zhang San specially called Gan Xingtai over to ask him if he could win, Gan Xingtai patted his chest and said that there was no problem in this battle, but Zhang San was indeed more worried about this battle, because the Ryukyu Army was going to give up its speed advantage and have a decisive battle with the opponent's real sword and gun.

Since the purpose of the Song army was to escape into the canal and complete the encirclement of Yangzhou City, the strategic goal of Zhang San's Ryukyu army was to annihilate the Song army before it entered the canal.

The water distance from Jiankang to Yangzhou is only 200 miles, and the Song army can reach the Yangzhou River before lunch in the morning, so if the Song army does not allow the Ryukyu Navy Division to engage in the battle and escape into the canal with all its might, then the Ryukyu army only has half a day to destroy them.

And if it fights with the Ryukyu Army, the Ryukyu Army, which cannot use the speed advantage, must be prepared for a gang fight, and the Ryukyu Army has never fought a melee battle of this scale, although Zhang San is not worried that the Ryukyu Army will lose, but he is also afraid that the loss will be too large.

However, fear could not solve the problem, and when the Ryukyu East Sea Fleet arrived, Gan Xingtai decided to take the lead and sailed to the Jiankang River overnight in advance, preparing for a hard-to-face war with the Great Song Naval Division.

So when the Great Song sailors had not yet left the camp, the Ryukyu army took advantage of the ballistas to begin to sneak attack the Song army's sailor camp, after a few rounds of incendiary bombs, the wall of the water village was ignited, and the spy ship came to report, and the Song army sailors in the port were in a mess and were boarding the ship.

Where would Gan Xingtai let go of such an opportunity, and immediately sent a detachment of ten ships into the Song Army's naval division berth with the intention of making a fortune first, so when the Song ship was busy hoisting its sails to find people, a fire oil bomb smashed into the middle of the fleet, although the fire had just started, but it was uncontrollable for a while.

Of course, this is not the north wind borrowed by the Ryukyus, but the Song army itself burned itself, and the Great Song Dynasty water war used thousands of years of Chinese ingenuity, set fire to the boat, break through the opponent's formation, and then attack and injure the opponent's living force with a rain of arrows, and finally jumped to lock the victory.

There was nothing wrong with this strategy, but the mistake was that the Song army did not dock the fireships and warships separately, because the day was about to go on the expedition, so the logistics soldiers were afraid that firewood and grass and other fire-causing things were loaded on the fireships a day in advance, and as a result, the Ryukyu battleships had not played much, and the fire in the water village was a little uncontrollable.

The ten ships of the Ryukyus hurriedly left the port, and if they didn't run, they would probably be roasted to death in the port, seeing this skyrocketing fire, Gan Xingtai and the others stared wide-eyed, victory came too quickly like a tornado? I worked hard to develop multiple sets of tactics, and I was ready to pay heavy casualties, and the result was over?

Looking at the fire in Jiankang Water Village, Du Bai of the Marine Corps asked, "General Gan, do you think we should land and raid Jiankang City?" At this time, the hearts of the soldiers in the city will inevitably be shaken. ”

Gan Xingtai looked at the flaming sailor camp, thought for a while and said: "At this time, Jiankang City is afraid that it has been alarmed, how can the other party be useless, it is also fifty or sixty thousand defenders, and we don't have siege equipment, so forget it?" ”

Just when Gan Xingtai didn't know what to do, he suddenly thought that he also had a staff department? Thinking that whenever Zhang San encountered a choice that he couldn't choose, he would ask the opinion of the General Staff, Gan Xingtai said: "Immediately order the General Staff to conduct a deduction on whether to attack Jiankang." ”

Everyone turned their heads to look at a room in Gan Xingtai's operational command room, and the room immediately became busy, some of these people were thirty or forty years old and bookish, and there were also excellent commanders who emerged from the bottom, but more of them were military academy students.

Because only military cadets know how to calculate the distance on the map, analyze battle damage, deduce the next move of the enemy, etc., but compared with the army staff, the staff of the Admiralty are better at dealing with nautical charts.

And Gan Xingtai is a little unaccustomed to the existence of such a group of people, and there are very few places where they can be used.

When the fire burned from the warships of the water village to the land camp, the staff officers finally gave their opinions, and the first plan was to retreat back to Yangzhou immediately when the water division was destroyed, so that the strategic purpose of the battle was achieved.

The second plan is to go ashore to intercept and capture the officers and soldiers of the Great Song Naval Division, because according to the theory once taught by Zhang San, once these officers and soldiers of the Naval Division are captured, then the Song Army needs to spend effort to re-cultivate if it wants to recover, which will prolong the recovery time of the opponent's strength.

In this battle, it is estimated that at least 50,000 people of the 80,000 Great Song Naval Division will successfully escape, because many officers and soldiers have not had time to board the ships, so as long as they escape in time, the loss of personnel should not be large, as long as a number of ships are being requisitioned, it will not take half a month to recover a healthy naval division with good strength.

The third plan is not only to try to capture the prisoners, but also to launch an attack on the healthy city, although it may not be able to break the city, but it will definitely bring great pressure to the Song Dynasty, health as an important town in the south of the Yangtze River, if it is attacked, Yangzhou will not be able to ignore it, then the strength and energy of the Song army will be scattered.